Soaking Up Waikiki, Surfing to Sunsets, for a Song

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Clockwise from top left: a mai tai at the Shore Bird, Waikiki Beach and a sunset in Waikiki.CreditMarco Garcia for The New York Times

By Bonnie Tsui

Oct. 7, 2014

One of the first surf movies ever made — shot, in 1906, by none other than a Thomas Edison camera man — takes place on Waikiki Beach, the famed beachfront neighborhood in Honolulu. Amazingly enough, what the black-and-white footage captures — surfers gliding across smooth, rolling waves, beachgoers frolicking in sun-warmed waters, the occasional outrigger canoe cruising up to the sand — isn’t much different from what you’d see today.

This is all to say that the essential, seductive pleasures of Hawaii are still available to you for a song. Yes, the two-mile stretch of Waikiki’s beachfront is now lined with hotels, and the main promenade, Kalakaua Avenue, is largely reminiscent of an outdoor mall. But amid a sea of exorbitantly priced designer boutiques, I recently found that you can surf dawn patrol ($10), eat fresh pineapple ($3) and hand-pulled noodles ($3.75), bed down in a stylish hotel a block and a half from the beach ($119) and, of course, soak in million-dollar views (free). At the end of the day, I had my mai tai ($4) and drank it, too.

Last month, I went to visit an old friend of mine who lives in Honolulu. Our first priority, as with many on the beach, was surfing. We rented boards at my favorite beach shack, Star Beachboys , just behind the famous Duke Kahanamoku statue (it’s the place with the yellow umbrellas). Rentals are cheaper at surf shops off the sand, but Star’s location can’t be beat for visitors who don’t want to schlep a board around town — or pay for parking, which is a pain in Waikiki and can run you as much as $10 an hour. Their early-bird special isn’t just a good deal, it allows you to take advantage of the morning hours, which feature both calmer water and smaller crowds: Rent a board anytime between 6 and 8 a.m. for $10, and they’ll throw in a second hour free.

You might be surprised, as I was, by the occasional platter-size sea turtle swimming beneath the lineup, where surfers are positioned to catch a wave. On the water, time passes not in hours or minutes, but in the space between waves, the lulls between sets. There’s time to notice the water curling, the reef skimming below, the other surfers paddling over the crest.

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Paddling in Waikiki.CreditMarco Garcia for The New York Times

After surfing, we were ravenous, so we headed to Marukame Udon, a cafeteria-style noodle shop beloved by locals for fresh, heaping bowls of Japanese wheat flour noodles. Marukame’s Waikiki location is its first outside Japan. More often than not, there’s a line — be prepared to wait as long as 30 minutes — but even that comes with free entertainment: Your noodles are made just across a counter by the convivial staff members. (They’re used to the smartphone paparazzi; one noodle maker cheerfully obliged when I asked him to wring out another handful of udon.)

The zaru udon, served cold with a dashi dipping sauce, was $3.75 (we each got a “small” bowl, which is plenty hearty). As we moved along the à la carte assembly line, we also ordered chicken, shrimp and asparagus tempura (starting at $1.50 a piece) and Spam musubi, a Hawaiian staple ($1.75; wrapped up like a gift and presented still warm, it makes for a great takeaway snack). The noodles were perfectly chewy and filling, and I’ve never had better or crispier chicken tempura. Total for the two of us, with drink: $17.53.

Walking is the best way to get around pedestrian-friendly Waikiki, but TheBus ($2.50 one way, multiple lines) or Pink Line trolley ($2 one way) offer alternatives for those worn out by the waves. (I’d opt for the trolley, with its glass-free windows, so you can feel the warm air on your skin as you ride.) Many tourists hop from mall to mall; one destination worthy of a visit is the Ala Moana Shopping Center, where the Shirokiya department store sells all manner of cool Japanese items (books, prints, beauty products) and even has its own in-house radio station.

And don’t miss the second-floor Yataimura food court, which offers Tokyo street eats (ramen, bento, sashimi, tonkatsu) and a beer garden with happy-hour pints for $1 starting at 5:30 p.m. The pleasure of this store comes from all the eye candy on display, edible or not: I love how fish-scale patterns in the stationery section are echoed upstairs in the food stalls.

As is often the case in tourist-heavy spots, lodging can be tricky. I recommend the new Shoreline Hotel Waikiki, which opened last year with a prime location, just off Kalakaua Avenue, and a cheeky sense of style. Rooms start at $119 when you book from the website, and include free Wi-Fi, sunscreen kits and private lanais. In-room fridges, microwaves and Keurig coffee makers help keep things frugal, and the lobby dispensers offer a constant supply of iced tea and mint water. There are no unnecessary frills: Even the rooftop pool is just a tank of water — no fancy cabanas or swim-up bar, but it cools you off just fine. (The hotel also has a great promotion with Lyft for new users: Your first ride around town is free up to $30.)

The panorama from the Shoreline’s roof consists mostly of air shafts and parking lots, so I went in search of better. A beachside happy hour with an astounding view of Diamond Head — the sloping volcanic tuff cone that is one of Hawaii’s most famous landmarks — can be found from 2 to 5 p.m. at the Shore Bird. This is where you can get those $4 mai tais — in a neighborhood where cocktails run upward of $10. I met a friend at the open-air bar and restaurant one afternoon, and whiled away an hour talking and staring at the sea. Other patrons, cocktail in hand, toes in sand, couldn’t seem to believe their luck.

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The Shoreline Hotel Waikiki, which opened last year.CreditMarco Garcia for The New York Times

If you want to diversify your drinking, come back at 9:30, when the free nightly karaoke gets cranking, along with drink and bar food specials that include $4 draft beers (like Kona Longboard Lager), $5 well cocktails and house wines, and beef sliders with fries for $8.95 (throw in an extra buck and they’ll make the burgers with mahi-mahi).

So-called Hawaiian Time can throw off even the most organized traveler’s meal schedule, so it’s nice to have easy eats you can take away for a picnic. Barefoot Beach Cafe is a laid-back seaside concession that serves food from a window just across from the wide-open green of Kapiolani Park. There are specials every day. On the afternoon I stopped by for lunch, it was a Hawaiian barbecue chicken bowl, fresh grilled chicken over sticky rice with chunky pineapple salsa ($8). The cafe has wooden picnic tables and fronts a calm swimming beach away from Waikiki’s busiest stretch, so your soundtrack is chirping birds and lapping waves. I found that ambling along the pedestrian path to get there, under the shade of palm trees and looking out on swimmers in the water and families perched on the rocky jetty, put me in a seriously relaxed frame of mind. (There’s also free live music most evenings and at Sunday brunch.)

Another good option is Tucker & Bevvy, across from the Honolulu Zoo. This juice bar and sandwich spot has its own daily specials: a fresh smoothie for $2 with any breakfast panini (bacon, egg and Cheddar, say, or smoked salmon, cream cheese, capers, tomato, cucumber and sprouts; $6), as well as dinner deals from 5 to 7 p.m.

My favorite frugal picnic plan, though, involves roaming the farmers’ markets, which take place in different locations every day of the week in Honolulu. In the lobby of Waikiki’s Hyatt Regency (Tuesday and Thursday, 4 to 8 p.m.), I had a hard time deciding between vendors. I finally settled on a half-pound of ahi poke with rice for $5, with a clamshell box of juicy, fresh-cut pineapple for $3.

I took it with me to go, because I didn’t want to miss the best thing in Waikiki: the sunset, which, of course, is always free.

Bonnie Tsui is a writer in San Francisco. She is among the writers who will contribute to this column while Seth Kugel turns his attention to writing a book.

A version of this article appears in print on , on Page TR5 of the New York edition with the headline: Waikiki on a Beach-Blanket Budget. Order Reprints | Today’s Paper | Subscribe